Bluebasser86

The east ramp in Eisenhower State Park. It's pretty protected from the wind and some of the guys have the year pass for the state parks so at least all of us won't have to pay to launch. Plus there's some pretty good fishing close to the ramp for anyone that doesn't want to make the cold run in the morning.

You can walk a pretty good portion of the north side of the river. Can't fish the south side because of the railroad tracks. I've considered fishing for bass in Mill Creek where it runs into the river and back into the creek as far as I can get my boat but haven't ever done it. I've caught a few bass fishing for catfish or wipers in there and there is a lot of laydowns and some rocky areas but just haven't ever gotten the nerve to try it. The 4 pounder I caught up there was really healthy looking though and very strong. The one I caught in my net today was directly below the dam in a slack water area where there was a lot of minnows visible.

Wow that's a fat pike! They're fun to catch but at the same time I'm glad they aren't in the lakes I bass fish, I like keeping my baits

I feel like I was the only one that didn't go fishing today I actually went to the Kansas River at 435 and tossed the throw net to see if the shad were up there yet. Not many shad but I did get a big surprised in the form of a 13" largemouth in my net I caught one about 4lbs out of Mill Creek a mile away from where it runs into the river and have caught a bunch in Mill Creek off Shawnee Mission and Barker but I was really surprised to see one in the main river. I had a bunch of whites and wipers end up in my net though, some nice ones too. Think I might have to take a couple traps or swimbaits down there in the morning and see if any of them will bite before I start my moving marathon.

Get it supertuned, it'll blow your mind how far that little reel will cast.

I love lipless baits, don't really have a big problem with losing too many fish. Switching the stock hooks to short shank hooks seems to help since it keeps the bait from swinging as much when a fish jumps and headshakes. I'm a big fan of the Xcaliber XR50 and XRK50 baits, they just produce better for me than any others I've used. The Strike King RES is a good bait too but it seems like I catch way more whites and wipers than I do bass with them. This time of year is prime time of year for lipless baits. I like the versatility of the baits and the ability to fish them at almost any depth.

We fish gulp minnows on 1/8oz jigheads a lot for walleyes when they get up in shallow water in the spring. Sometimes you catch more catfish than anything else. They're a blast on light spinning gear, even the smaller ones. I catch a lot of flatheads on jigs, those 5-10 pounders really get my hopes up until they settle in under the boat for a tug-o-war. Big drum are always disappointing too, they even fight a little like a big largemouth or smallmouth.

I've been spooled by a fish but never a boat, that sucks.

Just thinking back over the year I've fished between 25-30 different bodies of water so far this year not counting ponds.

Man, I'd go crazy if I didn't have power plant lakes that were open year round. I guess I'd probably just duck hunt a lot more

They're pretty much impossible to rig on a screw lock unless you modify it. I cut the lock so it's about 1/3 of it's original length and then use pliers to straighten it out and put a 90 degree bend in the very end. Then you just push the worm onto the spike you just created and rig the rest as usual. Works very well with plastics that are too thin to rig on the screw lock also.

Most of our lakes and ponds in the state freeze but I happen to be lucky enough to live within an hour of 2 power plant cooling lakes so I fish all winter long! The air temps may be in the 20's or 30's but the water temps will be in the 50's or 60's and the fish are usually at least biting a little bit and sometimes it's the best fishing of the year.

I don't know about IGFA but Kansas stocks trout since we have no native wild trout and they keep records of those. I would think it would count as long as it was a public body of water and it was caught in accordance with all IGFA rules.

Supposed to happen this Wednesday. Our agent says we'll be signing our papers at 2pm Wednesday so I'll be packing and moving all our stuff on my days off this week.

Perfect, I'll put you down and now have officially heard from everyone that I have down and it sounds like everyone is still in for this Saturday!

I can't believe you guys even tried to go out today! I imagine all the rain last night and then the wind today probably didn't help you guys any. Usually when it's windy the best fishing is in the wind out there but that isn't an option sometimes.

You can use braid and probably be fine but I would suggest using a short fluoro leader. I've been using bright white Nanofil with my Ned rig with a short fluoro leader and haven't been having any problems with getting bit. The leader is much more abrasion resistant than braid or nano also, which helps a little with the zebras aka "razor clams".

Nice looking baits, I really like both of those colors!

Blackberry 8" jellyworm is about the only worm my dad uses and it still catches a ton of fish today. 1/4oz bullet weight and a 4/0 wide gap hook is how I rig them. They're one bait that I probably don't use enough honestly. I've got some 12" blackberry and they're a good bait to get a big bite.

I've caught some pretty nice fish on those cheap $1 spinnerbaits. They're great for bank fishing so if you get snagged and loose them it isn't a big deal. Congrats on the PB, now lets see those pics!

I'll probably have to fish Lonestar again once we move to Gardner, won't be too far of a drive again then. I used to fish that lake a bunch and caught some pretty nice ones out of it.

I guess if someone wanted to launch from that ramp they could, I just picked the other one because it has pretty good fishing right by the ramp in case someone didn't want to drive far to fish. Normally in a tournament that allows trailering what you do is wait until everyone else is putting their boats in the water for launch then you can drive to the ramp you want to launch from and then you have to be back with your boat and trailer at take out time. I was wondering why Retro had been so quiet, I guess we know now. I have a list of what everyone is bringing on the front page but not of what we need. We have most of what we would really need but we could probably use some more burgers/brauts/dogs, buns for any of those, and some sides like potato salad, coleslaw, pasta salad. I have heard from everyone either on here or by text except tritonguy and everyone sounds like they're planning on being there still, weather permitting. Nope, that's the good thing about a paper tourney, as long as you can get an accurate measurement on your board then you can put them down. I don't know how bad anyone wants to have a couple 10 inchers on their sheet but I guess it's better than nothing!

My great aunt is a breast cancer survivor. She says her ability to stay positive and having her family there with her the whole way made all the difference. Your sister can beat it too. My thoughts and prayers for her and your family.

Hopefully they'll get some of this rain and it will stain the water up a little bit! Never seen that lake as clear as it was Wednesday. It was as clear in my dirty water areas down lake as it normally is by the dam and the dam you could see bottom 5-6 foot deep. The marina is even more clear but we didn't hardly fish it because of that. Also, provided it gets approved a friend is going to cover the second half of my shift Saturday morning so I should be able to make it there for the take off

I've had both and the Minn Kotas have outlasted the Motorguides every time. To their credit the motoguides were not the higher end models and my Minn Kotas have all been Maxxums. I've really been impressed with the Maxxum I have now except it's a 5 speed, won't make that mistake again. The difference between the amount of power on 4 vs on 5 is huge. Still a very minor issue to have to deal with compared to how tough and dependable the motor has been for me. I have a 24v 70lb Maxxum on a 16' aluminum so it moves my boat around very nicely.